A/N: Star Split, and the content is copywrite Kathryn Lasky. I gain no
profit from this work. It's merely a fiction written for entertainment
perpose, and because I'm a fan of Star Split.
Original
A Modified Exerpt from "Star Split" bye Kathryn Lasky
By Riana MoonDancer
"I"m telling you the truth!" Marilyn Hammertz was lifting her right hand as if she were about to testify in a court of law. "If my grandfather were alive today he would have been the first Zolnotz to be umbellated. He did all that work on the nineteenth chromosome. Not only that, he was an outstanding lawyer whowho revised the Statutues of Trait Selection for the new millenium. A reprogeneticist, a Supreme Court Justice..."
I rolled my eyes. This was not a court of law. It was a school yard. Darci and I hated Marilyn Hammertz. She was obnoxious, stuck up, and though she knew everything. "We were at a party last night for the Reading of the Lists and everyone said as soon as Edmar Golenc's name was read, 'It should have been Rudy Hammertz!' I'm telling you the truth."
"Well, I'm telling you the truth, Marilyn. He ain't alive, sweethear! And half of life is showing up, as they say." Darci and I exchanged a look of thrilled satisfaction as Max Lasovetch spat out the words.
There was no one quite like Max. He was often surly, and sometimes considered a disipline proglem, and definite underachiever who had already been thrown out of two schools. "Three and you're out, Max," the principal had said, which meant the next school he would go to would be one for Originals, which I have to say I wouldn't mind if it were me. But people basically liked Max, despite his snarling and stubborn ways. Darci and I had a feeling they would never throw him out. He made life interesting. And sometimes, rarely in the classroom, Max Lasovetch was brilliant, like now.
"So we don't need to be hearing about your grandfather," Max continued. "It wasn't his fault that he wasn't selected for endowment, but it seems really rude and ungracious of you to stand out here and take away from Edmar Golenc's moment."
"It's not just a moment, Max. It's forever. Umbellation is forever, you dolt." Marily began to speak in a breathy dramatic tone that Darci and I have found is very fake. "We have lost my grandfather forever!"
"I know it's forever, and bad manners are only for the moment." Max spoke with sly arrogance that made us all laugh softly. "Look, a lot of our parents were taught by Golenc and I just think it's extremely offensive to hear you speak this way. So just live with it, Marilyn!"
"SB!" she spat.
The look on Darci's face told me she thought the expression was a meaningless one. Most didn't know what the letters meant. It was merely what someone would say what they wanted to insult the content of what another person had said, but not the person themself.
Marilyn turned and walked away in a huff. Her gang, many of the popular kids in school, followed. But a few looked back at Max with what I felt was bordering on longing.
I watched as kids struggled into school for the bell to start our next classes, but I stayed behind with Darci, seeing as she's best friend.
"Max?" Darci started.
I watched with some interest, wondering what she wanted from him.
"Yeah?"
"You know that thing you said?"
"What thing?"
"The thing about half of life is showing up... you said someone once said it. Who?"
Interesting question, I thought.
"Oh, I'm not sure. It was a fragment on a compressed vis-aud disk from over a thousand years ago. My older brother works on restoration of those."
"Where's that?"
"Palmyra."
The Library of Dead Language?"
"Yeah, the lab's part of that. In the summer I usually go and stay with him for a month. I might even get an intern ship this summer. Unpaid, of course. There's a rock climbing camp near there, up at Arc of the Winds in the Kerals."
I smiled, knowing this would please Darci, who loved rock climbing.
"You're kidding!" Darci exclaimed.
"No. Lots of the guys at the lab rock climb. Not me. I try to exert myself as little as possible." I was slightly impressed with the way Max said this, keeping a completely straight face.
"Oh, gee, I've got to go there. You know, my great-grandfather was a language scienctist at the Library of Dead Language."
"And needless to say should have been the first Zolnotz umbellated."
"Of course!" I laughed.
"That's what all our friends say, and our relatives," she added, imitating Marilyn's breathy voice.
"Yeah, mine too." Max smiled slightly at us.
"Hey, I just thought of something else. Maybe you know this from the Dead Language lab."
"What's that?"
"Well, first of all, what does 'SB' mean?"
"Oh, that's easy. Shitbull."
"What does it mean though?"
"Comes from two words actually- shit which is like, you know, excretement, waste, bowel stuff. And bull, bull is an extinct animal."
True, I mentally agreed, but what does it actually mean? I knew the answer, but I didn't think they did.
"Why would that be so insulting? I mean what's wrong with excretement? It fuels everything now."
"I know, but you have to figure way back when I could have meant something else. Maybe it wasn't so useful. Maybe it was another color, not so fragrant, and who knows what kind of an animal a bull really was- maybe really dumb."
You have no idea, I thought, smiling a bit.
"Yeah, I guess so," Darci agreed. "Okay, here's another one for you."
"What's that?"
"Original- what does the word really mean?"
Ah, there's another one I know. I kept my mental comments to myself, waiting for Max to reply.
"Oh, gee, I have no idea. I know what you mean, though. The word doesn't seem to have any logic to it at all. That's a problem for the lab's top scientists."
Darci began to head back into the school, and I had to bite my lip to keep from adding my comment to his reply.
"Want to cut?"
"Cut?" Darci and I asked simeltaniously.
"Yeah. What's your next period." He glanced to me, indicating that he was inviting me as well, and not just Darci.
"Gym for both of us," Darci replied.
"Mine too. I make it a practice to cut gym at least once a month." Darci and I exchanged a glance, then looked to Max. He was rather odd. "Come on."
Neither of us had every cut a class in our lives. "Where do you go when you cut?"
I was glad Darci had asked that, because then I didn't have to. I'm rather shy.
"Malben's."
I suppressed a pleased look.
"You're kidding!" Malben's was a hangout for Originals. It was right across the street from our high school. "Okay," Darci said suddenly. She was obviously surprised with her quick reply. "Come on, Sarah."
I shrugged. "Alright..." Secrectly I was quite pleased.
We followed Max off the school grounds, heading for Malben's.
"They have something called a liquid sundae here that's really great. Cherry's the best flavor," Max told us as we slid into a booth. "Want one?"
"Sure," Darci replied, and I nodded my agreement.
"Three liquid cherries," Max called to the man behind the counter.
I knew I could have ordered them the same way Originals did, but I couldn't tell Darci and Max that.
Just then a group of kids walked in. Darci craned her neck around the edge of the booth for a better glimpse.
"Don't stare too hard, Darci. You either Sarah." His eyes briefly flicked to me. "This is their ground. They're going to know we're Genhants, so just try to kind of blend in."
I raised my eyebrow in slight amusement. Instead of following what he said, I looked out and smiled at them, and they returned my smile in full, but looked rather coldly at Darci and Max.
At that moment a girl swept by our booth, knocking Darci's sweater to the floor.
"Oh! Sorry, dishy."
I watched Darci's face closely to read her reaction to the Originals word. I knew it was one used often, and, for the most part, was positive. It would probably seem some what risky to Darci, as most Originals things did.
Darci had her face which said she thought something was risky, and that she wasn't sure about something.
The girl picked up her sweater, obviously not noticing that Darci was a Genhant. But when her eyes met Darci's, a slightly cold look came over her face as she shoved the sweater at Darci. I leaned forward just enough for the girl to get a look at me. When she saw me, she smiled, and said softly, "Hello, Sarah."
I offered a soft smiled and replied, "Hi, Jessie." I could feel Max and Darci staring holes through me. "How've you been?"
She gave a slight flick of her hand, more like a flutter. "Not bad. How are you in those Genhant schools?"
I returned her guesture by sort of flicking my chin. "They aren't bad."
Jessie glanced at Darci and Max. "Some of your friends from there?" Her tone was slightly cold, as if I had betrayed the Originals by becoming friends with Genhants.
"Yeah, Max and Darci..."
"I see..."
I couldn't help feeling somewhat angry at her for putting me in this position. Obviously she didn't like Max and Darci, and I was trying to keep a peaceful conversation with her and keep Max and Darci as my friends. "Not all Genhants are so terrible, Jessie." My voice held a halting rhythm, showing I was slightly stressed.
She shrugged slightly. "Whatever. Nice talking to you again, Sarah." She strode off gracefully, just as she always was.
I leaned back, glancing quickly at Max, then Darci. Both were staring at me as though I were crazy.
"You're an Original?" Darci asked quietly.
I hesitated before nodding. "Why do you think I act like I'm shy?"
"And you never told me that?" Darci's voice held a slight note of anger.
Max looked sharply at Darci. "Leave her be..." He flashed a smile at me. "I think it's cool that you're an Original."
I flicked my hand as if to say it were nothing. "It took a lot for my parents to get me into the Genhant school... they wanted me to see what it was like to be a Genhant."
They stayed silent, obviously not knowing what to say to my explination. "And if it's anything, I can tell you more about 'SB' and 'Original'."
Max stared curioiusly at me. "Really?"
I nodded. "I've studied the Dead Languages a lot."
"What do they mean?" Darci asked, the same curious look across her face.
I paused for a long moment. "SB," I started, "was originally BS, meaning bullshit... It was just used to say that you didn't believe what another person was saying, you thought it wasn't true..."
"Now explain original... you obviously know what it means if you can use it." Darci looked somewhat frustrated by not knowing entirely what I was saying.
I smiled a bit. "Original... well, it's like the first of something... Not a copy, or umbellation, as it would be today. It could also be said as... the beginning, in the beginning. So, what I meant by what SB was originally, is that before, a long time ago, it was BS."
"Wow..." Max murmured, looking impressed.
"Original..." Darci let the word roll off her tongue, as though testing it.
"Well..." Max smiled. "We have an Original for a friend..."
That one day changed our friendship for a life time.
Original
A Modified Exerpt from "Star Split" bye Kathryn Lasky
By Riana MoonDancer
"I"m telling you the truth!" Marilyn Hammertz was lifting her right hand as if she were about to testify in a court of law. "If my grandfather were alive today he would have been the first Zolnotz to be umbellated. He did all that work on the nineteenth chromosome. Not only that, he was an outstanding lawyer whowho revised the Statutues of Trait Selection for the new millenium. A reprogeneticist, a Supreme Court Justice..."
I rolled my eyes. This was not a court of law. It was a school yard. Darci and I hated Marilyn Hammertz. She was obnoxious, stuck up, and though she knew everything. "We were at a party last night for the Reading of the Lists and everyone said as soon as Edmar Golenc's name was read, 'It should have been Rudy Hammertz!' I'm telling you the truth."
"Well, I'm telling you the truth, Marilyn. He ain't alive, sweethear! And half of life is showing up, as they say." Darci and I exchanged a look of thrilled satisfaction as Max Lasovetch spat out the words.
There was no one quite like Max. He was often surly, and sometimes considered a disipline proglem, and definite underachiever who had already been thrown out of two schools. "Three and you're out, Max," the principal had said, which meant the next school he would go to would be one for Originals, which I have to say I wouldn't mind if it were me. But people basically liked Max, despite his snarling and stubborn ways. Darci and I had a feeling they would never throw him out. He made life interesting. And sometimes, rarely in the classroom, Max Lasovetch was brilliant, like now.
"So we don't need to be hearing about your grandfather," Max continued. "It wasn't his fault that he wasn't selected for endowment, but it seems really rude and ungracious of you to stand out here and take away from Edmar Golenc's moment."
"It's not just a moment, Max. It's forever. Umbellation is forever, you dolt." Marily began to speak in a breathy dramatic tone that Darci and I have found is very fake. "We have lost my grandfather forever!"
"I know it's forever, and bad manners are only for the moment." Max spoke with sly arrogance that made us all laugh softly. "Look, a lot of our parents were taught by Golenc and I just think it's extremely offensive to hear you speak this way. So just live with it, Marilyn!"
"SB!" she spat.
The look on Darci's face told me she thought the expression was a meaningless one. Most didn't know what the letters meant. It was merely what someone would say what they wanted to insult the content of what another person had said, but not the person themself.
Marilyn turned and walked away in a huff. Her gang, many of the popular kids in school, followed. But a few looked back at Max with what I felt was bordering on longing.
I watched as kids struggled into school for the bell to start our next classes, but I stayed behind with Darci, seeing as she's best friend.
"Max?" Darci started.
I watched with some interest, wondering what she wanted from him.
"Yeah?"
"You know that thing you said?"
"What thing?"
"The thing about half of life is showing up... you said someone once said it. Who?"
Interesting question, I thought.
"Oh, I'm not sure. It was a fragment on a compressed vis-aud disk from over a thousand years ago. My older brother works on restoration of those."
"Where's that?"
"Palmyra."
The Library of Dead Language?"
"Yeah, the lab's part of that. In the summer I usually go and stay with him for a month. I might even get an intern ship this summer. Unpaid, of course. There's a rock climbing camp near there, up at Arc of the Winds in the Kerals."
I smiled, knowing this would please Darci, who loved rock climbing.
"You're kidding!" Darci exclaimed.
"No. Lots of the guys at the lab rock climb. Not me. I try to exert myself as little as possible." I was slightly impressed with the way Max said this, keeping a completely straight face.
"Oh, gee, I've got to go there. You know, my great-grandfather was a language scienctist at the Library of Dead Language."
"And needless to say should have been the first Zolnotz umbellated."
"Of course!" I laughed.
"That's what all our friends say, and our relatives," she added, imitating Marilyn's breathy voice.
"Yeah, mine too." Max smiled slightly at us.
"Hey, I just thought of something else. Maybe you know this from the Dead Language lab."
"What's that?"
"Well, first of all, what does 'SB' mean?"
"Oh, that's easy. Shitbull."
"What does it mean though?"
"Comes from two words actually- shit which is like, you know, excretement, waste, bowel stuff. And bull, bull is an extinct animal."
True, I mentally agreed, but what does it actually mean? I knew the answer, but I didn't think they did.
"Why would that be so insulting? I mean what's wrong with excretement? It fuels everything now."
"I know, but you have to figure way back when I could have meant something else. Maybe it wasn't so useful. Maybe it was another color, not so fragrant, and who knows what kind of an animal a bull really was- maybe really dumb."
You have no idea, I thought, smiling a bit.
"Yeah, I guess so," Darci agreed. "Okay, here's another one for you."
"What's that?"
"Original- what does the word really mean?"
Ah, there's another one I know. I kept my mental comments to myself, waiting for Max to reply.
"Oh, gee, I have no idea. I know what you mean, though. The word doesn't seem to have any logic to it at all. That's a problem for the lab's top scientists."
Darci began to head back into the school, and I had to bite my lip to keep from adding my comment to his reply.
"Want to cut?"
"Cut?" Darci and I asked simeltaniously.
"Yeah. What's your next period." He glanced to me, indicating that he was inviting me as well, and not just Darci.
"Gym for both of us," Darci replied.
"Mine too. I make it a practice to cut gym at least once a month." Darci and I exchanged a glance, then looked to Max. He was rather odd. "Come on."
Neither of us had every cut a class in our lives. "Where do you go when you cut?"
I was glad Darci had asked that, because then I didn't have to. I'm rather shy.
"Malben's."
I suppressed a pleased look.
"You're kidding!" Malben's was a hangout for Originals. It was right across the street from our high school. "Okay," Darci said suddenly. She was obviously surprised with her quick reply. "Come on, Sarah."
I shrugged. "Alright..." Secrectly I was quite pleased.
We followed Max off the school grounds, heading for Malben's.
"They have something called a liquid sundae here that's really great. Cherry's the best flavor," Max told us as we slid into a booth. "Want one?"
"Sure," Darci replied, and I nodded my agreement.
"Three liquid cherries," Max called to the man behind the counter.
I knew I could have ordered them the same way Originals did, but I couldn't tell Darci and Max that.
Just then a group of kids walked in. Darci craned her neck around the edge of the booth for a better glimpse.
"Don't stare too hard, Darci. You either Sarah." His eyes briefly flicked to me. "This is their ground. They're going to know we're Genhants, so just try to kind of blend in."
I raised my eyebrow in slight amusement. Instead of following what he said, I looked out and smiled at them, and they returned my smile in full, but looked rather coldly at Darci and Max.
At that moment a girl swept by our booth, knocking Darci's sweater to the floor.
"Oh! Sorry, dishy."
I watched Darci's face closely to read her reaction to the Originals word. I knew it was one used often, and, for the most part, was positive. It would probably seem some what risky to Darci, as most Originals things did.
Darci had her face which said she thought something was risky, and that she wasn't sure about something.
The girl picked up her sweater, obviously not noticing that Darci was a Genhant. But when her eyes met Darci's, a slightly cold look came over her face as she shoved the sweater at Darci. I leaned forward just enough for the girl to get a look at me. When she saw me, she smiled, and said softly, "Hello, Sarah."
I offered a soft smiled and replied, "Hi, Jessie." I could feel Max and Darci staring holes through me. "How've you been?"
She gave a slight flick of her hand, more like a flutter. "Not bad. How are you in those Genhant schools?"
I returned her guesture by sort of flicking my chin. "They aren't bad."
Jessie glanced at Darci and Max. "Some of your friends from there?" Her tone was slightly cold, as if I had betrayed the Originals by becoming friends with Genhants.
"Yeah, Max and Darci..."
"I see..."
I couldn't help feeling somewhat angry at her for putting me in this position. Obviously she didn't like Max and Darci, and I was trying to keep a peaceful conversation with her and keep Max and Darci as my friends. "Not all Genhants are so terrible, Jessie." My voice held a halting rhythm, showing I was slightly stressed.
She shrugged slightly. "Whatever. Nice talking to you again, Sarah." She strode off gracefully, just as she always was.
I leaned back, glancing quickly at Max, then Darci. Both were staring at me as though I were crazy.
"You're an Original?" Darci asked quietly.
I hesitated before nodding. "Why do you think I act like I'm shy?"
"And you never told me that?" Darci's voice held a slight note of anger.
Max looked sharply at Darci. "Leave her be..." He flashed a smile at me. "I think it's cool that you're an Original."
I flicked my hand as if to say it were nothing. "It took a lot for my parents to get me into the Genhant school... they wanted me to see what it was like to be a Genhant."
They stayed silent, obviously not knowing what to say to my explination. "And if it's anything, I can tell you more about 'SB' and 'Original'."
Max stared curioiusly at me. "Really?"
I nodded. "I've studied the Dead Languages a lot."
"What do they mean?" Darci asked, the same curious look across her face.
I paused for a long moment. "SB," I started, "was originally BS, meaning bullshit... It was just used to say that you didn't believe what another person was saying, you thought it wasn't true..."
"Now explain original... you obviously know what it means if you can use it." Darci looked somewhat frustrated by not knowing entirely what I was saying.
I smiled a bit. "Original... well, it's like the first of something... Not a copy, or umbellation, as it would be today. It could also be said as... the beginning, in the beginning. So, what I meant by what SB was originally, is that before, a long time ago, it was BS."
"Wow..." Max murmured, looking impressed.
"Original..." Darci let the word roll off her tongue, as though testing it.
"Well..." Max smiled. "We have an Original for a friend..."
That one day changed our friendship for a life time.